I want to start a series with you this morning called the Kingdom Focus Church and I think it's very relevant especially this year and in the election year that will be probably still contentious but just period by what we're going through in our culture at this time we need to know what our marching orders are we need to be clear where we stand and I hope I can make that somewhat clear as we work through some passages together we'll spend some good time in Matthew just so you know I do pray for your prayers ask for your prayers as we work through this together let's pray father thank you thank you that you all Lord you alone all Lord you are God there's none beside you you have drawn us into your kingdom that we might be your people we might be your sons and daughters even who are we that you should make this your sons and daughters about your grace we are that and we rejoice in calling you father and Jesus our Lord and elder brother speak to us now oh Lord there's so many isms and schisms and philosophies and ideologies and ideas is just letting us we're being inundated day in and day out church is wobbling in so many ways dear gods stabilize us that we might be used for your glory and might have life and abundant life as Jesus promised us bless your word now use your unworthy servant as we began to think about these things please grant me your anointing and clarity of speech and thought as I seek to dive into your word into this Matthew passage and throughout the series Lord will you speak to us speak to us we need to hear your voice and we need to see the glory and the majesty of King Jesus in his name we pray amen Matthew chapter four verses 23 through 25 and he went throughout all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people so his fame spread throughout all Syria and they brought him all the sick those afflicted with various diseases and pains those oppressed by demons those having seizures and paralytics and he healed them and great crowds followed him from Galilee and the decopolis and from Jerusalem and Judea and from beyond the Jordan that is the reading of the word of the Lord please you see this thank you praise team thank you choir thank man thank you I'm gonna lace I gotta lay some groundwork for these next two messages okay so just hang in there with me all right don't they only me too quickly make America great again black lives matter we are deconstructing the faith Christianity these mantra the messages have wrecked rack and wrecked our consciousness and country for several years and I have so affinity for at least two of them yeah basically two of them listen I want our country to be great by great I mean a land of justice peace security prosperity and human flourishing for all I want America to be great I live here my children live here you my friends and family I live here we want a great country I confess I think the question of the the the again part is questionable to me but that's my opinion but I certainly want greatness as far as that goes for our country and of course I believe that black and brown lives should matter in this country more than historically they have matter of course I believe that you think I'm silly I know it means to be a rat but police officers and follow around stores and have white women cross the street when I walk down the street when a three-piece suit I know about what that feels like I know what it means to be here yeah I want black lives brown lives to matter in this country now thank God we have made some great strides and I'm down I'm the first one to say we are not the same country as we were in 1950 hello I want me to be I'm gonna make that we're gonna get that out there but is there more to be done you have to be blind not to see that and intentionally blind too I have to say that deconstructing the faith now I have less affinity for that you see if it meant clinging to the word of God and questioning additions to the faith that may be unnecessary then yeah I would agree with deconstructing the faith but doesn't mean that it doesn't mean that you see as Christians we hear these mantras and others and we say yes because they sound good right we say yes yes and we get behind them but as Christians as a Christian I must remember behind every mantra is a movement let me say that again behind every mantra make America great again black lives matter deconstruct the faith behind every mantra every message I'm calling the mantra over and over again there is always a movement the mantra may be something as a Christian I can support but then I must examine the movement because the movement controls the mantra the movement controls the message and unless the movement is built on the word of God as this foundation and motivation it will become corrupted and maybe even dangerous movements represent kingdoms world views ways of looking at all of life when Christians fall for the mantra without vividly examining the movement we end up in some ways denying an aspect of our king's rule we end up in some aspect made denying our own faith because any movement created by a human being is flawed from word go it's flawed if it's not built on the word of God it will eventually fail it will not accomplish what you think it will and if it does accomplish something that something will be corrupted just ask our Cuban brothers and sisters Castro was their hero and what did that in land them revolution the revolution where do revolution's usually end up replacing the tyrant with a new tyrant human movements and less grounded in the word of God become corrupted and at times even dangerous quick example let's take deconstruction because deconstruction is not new chins have launched last one to the term not knowing that this is an old movement this is a semi old movement deconstruction the father of deconstruction many call him doc Dareda I'm pronouncing it wrong his French and I don't know the big French very well 20th century philosopher in France also a key founder of queer theory he wanted to remove loyalty to ideas to learning even to religion in other words the movement that follows him wanted to get rid of all norms that's the basis of queer theory therefore the Bible and God become key to get rid of because they are the ultimate norms because now when you when you talk to the deconstructionist that Christian sometimes without knowing what we're doing the deconstructions will tell you if you are still believing the Bible is a word of God you haven't deconstructed the Bible becomes the ultimate oppressor and God oppressive book and God the ultimate oppressor we like the phrase but do we understand the movements today are allegiance as the lowest people is being challenged in so many ways politics justice ethnically sexual identity what does it even mean to be human even our very confidence upon the word of God is being challenged at a very high rate and I'm going to tell y'all think we're doing very well
Jesus the great king came with a message and a movement and it is recovering his message in movement that will keep us stable and effective as his people for his glory will keep us from being swept away by all these mantras it will keep us safe from danger and being conquered by the temporary movements of this world because the message of our king Jesus is paramount because his kingdom is everything will you hold to the message will you hold to the king's message will you ground your feet solidly in his kingdom and his message keep listening to the mantras of our culture that say good things and do good things but and you can't give yourself to these movements or you will be swept away our Lord Jesus in our passage has just returned from his time of temptation in the wilderness we saw this actually around Christmas time Satan himself came to tempt our Lord and he overwhelmingly triumphed in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God he bounty begins his three year earthly ministry the life of the world began to shine as he preached verse 17 repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand look at this focus already he preached that an ancient kingdom is being revealed to the nations and immediately he begins forming a group of disciples to be with him as they respond to his kingdom message he formed the movement now Matthew now gives us a bit more insight into Jesus ministry which what he said and did and the immediate effect in our passage and even we'll be looking into chapter five I think next week well we're looking to chapter five as well the whole Matthew of gospel really shows us but we'll be looking at just a short portion that's first thing I want you to notice and most importantly was the message the king's message he says is the gospel of the kingdom the good news gospel means of course good news the good news of the kingdom when we say the gospel that's really shorthand a shorthand for the gospel of the kingdom that is the full message the gospel of the kingdom and Jesus came preaching it he gains his attention his great attention to revealing this particular idea Matthew makes it very clear that this is the centerpiece of the Lord's message and what he did Matthew 417 from that time Jesus began to preach and repent for the kingdom of heaven as a hand Matthew 935 Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction in chapter 13 we won't turn to but I'll give that to you we have six parables on the kingdom of heaven the whole chapters you call them the kingdom parables and chapter 24 as he comes towards the end of the gospel Jesus is speaking of the end in kingdom language and he says this and this gospel of the kingdom will will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come when will the end come when the gospel of the kingdom has been preached throughout the entire world I skipped something and that's Matthew 5 through 7 Matthew 5 through 7 is what we call the sermon on the mount it is called technically the kingdom manifesto it is what it looks like to live for for those who come to Jesus to live in his kingdom I can't go through that today but I'll just mention some things real quick seven times the kingdom is mentioned in his great sermon it begins with the beatitudes blessed those blessed statements they end they begin and end with these words for theirs is the kingdom of heaven later in the chapter Jesus was about being great or leased in his kingdom he talks about the kingdom must be entered through righteousness we he tells us we are to pray for the kingdom to come he tells us in the big verse Matthew 6 33 that the kingdom must be the priority of allies seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all things will be added unto you seek first not second not third priority of allies he says it's seeking first his kingdom then he tells us in chapter 7 that not just anyone can enter the kingdom but only those who are willing to do the will of this father he even warns us that many will say to him Lord Lord on that day before him did we not do great works in your name it's miracles even and he will say the part for me I never knew you scariest words in all the Bible Luke made mentions the kingdom several times but in Luke chapter 4 of verse 43 you find Jesus is ministering in one in a certain area and then verse 43 says this but he said to his disciples I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to other towns as well for I was sent with this purpose I mean he's having a wonderful ministry in an area and Jesus says I can't say because I'm a preacher and I must go and preach the good news of the kingdom all over the place
that's my purpose he says I was sent for that purpose to preach the good news the gospel of the kingdom mark it begins his gospel for focus on the kingdom mark mark 1 14 to 15 now after John was arrested that John the Baptist Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe in the gospel Matthew and mark note that the kingdom is at hand the kingdom is present right now in the person of the king
and I guess a good question here at the beginning would be is what did our Lord mean by the kingdom many mean by the kingdom of God or kingdom of heaven same thing but didn't mean by that the word speaks of the reign and rule of God reign and rule I know all of you have at some point and other checked out the the the royal the the British royals right you know we have a you have a new king and queen has reign queen is a reign for the longest reign in monarch but here's the thing about British royalty including clones of this and now King Charles they reign but do not rule okay they don't have any real power to control stuff they don't rule they don't rule the country the kings that they don't rule it but they have a reign they're over it in a symbolic way in many ways they have some power to get me wrong but Jesus is not like that Jesus reigns and rules he's no paper on monarch he doesn't have a parliament or a he's not voted in and voted out is no senate in congress not at all Jesus is the only wise potentate he reigns in rules in his kingdom and the great thing about having him is that he's holy and righteous so everything he says and does is right and good he's only when we can trust like that where does he reign in rule everywhere yeah he is creator and sustainer of all things but the world is following you say and people are in rebellion people are not living like they should they're not obeying him Adam and Eve set us up pretty well they were supposed to represent their father god as his son and daughter ruling his creation in his name and thus manifesting his kingdom in all of creation you see the garden kingdom was meant to become a global kingdom that's what there was a false to do but they decided to make a name and a kingdom for themselves and rebelled they rejected his kingdom they rejected his rule and reign god's rule and reign since the beginning of the counterfeit kingdom the kingdom of darkness ruled not by humans but by spiritual forces of darkness with their king named satan but here's the thing thanks god's kingdom never ceased never ended he continues to reign and rule even while satan's kingdom of darkness runs amok well how's it visible how do you see this reign in rule you see people doing whatever they were every as this as the book of judges says every man did what was right in his own eyes we see that constantly how can you tell what where do we see this kingdom be visible being made visible when it will come and it was visible in Israel just before given the people that Ten Commandments God says to them Exodus 19 he says you yourself have seen what I did to the Egyptians man that's a statement all by itself it's like God said you saw what I did you messed with my people you saw you what I did to the Egyptians man I get excited about that how I bore you on Ego's wings and brought you to myself if he wasn't he wasn't just delivering them from bonds that keep God delivers us for himself he brings us out that we might be his prize possession we might be his people we might belong to him we might be family now listen now therefore if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant you shall be my treasure possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation he's talking to Moses these are the words he shall speak to the people of Israel Moses telling what I said you you speak what I tell you tell them I said let them know they're my kingdom my treasure possession they're my people I'm there deliver I will be their God they shall be my people and I will dwell in the midst of them so he's telling them God revealed this kingdom to a people chosen by grace at that time called Jews but they failed to live up to the privilege they were given through corrupt human king and hearts that went after things they should not have desired but God didn't give up it was all part of the plan it wasn't caught off guard oh what am I gonna do there's gotta be a plan B Michael Gabriel plan B no it was all part of he knew he promised to send a perfect kingdom to save all who were who would trust in him and he gave a wonderful message to the prophet Daniel to set this thing up he said other things throughout the Old Testament but Daniel's my favorite so forgive me if that on the screen I don't think I don't think Daniel 7 you don't have that okay listen to this Daniel 7 13 and 14 and 18 three verses Daniel's having a vision I saw in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man the Jesus favorite title for himself son of man he came to the ancient of days God the Father and was presented before him to him the son of man was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples nations and languages should serve him his dominion is an everlasting dominion we should not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed verse 18 the sense of the most high shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever forever and ever oh man so so so the kingdom is manifest in the old the kingdom was already there in the garden God is raining over all things Adam and Eve nested up God calls Abram creates a people that will manifest his kingdom of people who he will rule over and bless and nurture and care for but those people have played feet too they rebelling his God they think that they look at the other nations they say we want to be like them do you hear me they look at the nations around them and the people of the kingdom of God say we ain't got enough we want to be like the other nations that's how they got their first king name saw give us a king but God said Samuel the prophet says oh no no no no no start the and and God said to Samuel they're not rejecting you Samuel because Samuel was leading the people he says they're not rejecting you they're rejecting me as your king give me king saw then David better job there but he was clay feet too and so there's all kinds of corruption and then finally Israel just fails they get sent off the Babylon he brings them back come on y'all can do it come on follow me follow me be my people yeah we're there fail again but it's all part of the plan yeah Jesus is coming the great king with an everlasting kingdom the perfect king the one who will not fail the one who will lead the people and and lead in them he will defeat all his enemies and their enemies he will reign forever never he's coming he has dominion he has all the parties he's coming and so when Jesus comes in the new covenant he creates a people a movement of people who are not just from who are not just ancestral Jews but they are the spiritual children of Abraham as well as ancestral Jews who trust in Jesus now are constituted into what the new covenant reveals as his church people from all nations tribes and tongues who follow this king and striking is beautifully striking that the apostle Peter picks up the same language from the old covenant kingdom people and first Peter 2.9 he's talking about the church but listen he says but you are a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for his own possession I just read that in Exodus that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who calls you out of darkness into his marvelous life so now the old covenant people are being as it were fulfilled the same idea the those that people who trusted in the living God who did not turn to idols they and all those who believed and followed Jesus from every nation tribe and tongue and now one people one people one covenant one kingdom the church now is that place where you see the reign the rule the presence and the power of Christ and his kingdom it is being revealed in you where do we see the kingdom being revealed the church is not the kingdom the kingdom is bigger it's all great all the grace the church is manifest the kingdom listen I always say people say this kind of language that I kind of cringe listen we do not create the kingdom guys not called us to create this kingdom he's not called us even build this kingdom he's not called this to expand this kingdom it already covers everything he's calling us to display his kingdom to reveal the kingdom to reveal it so we pray because we know we're weak we're no better than Israel in the Old Testament but not better than them we'll be in pool right now like I said I said we'll be in pooled in all kinds of directions so many of us in this room we're all being pulled we're not wise we're not we're not examining the movements according to the word of God but how it sounds sounds good good they're good Christians we're no better than them that's probably pray Matthew 610 Jesus taught us to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done he taught us to pray that because he knows when you pray that you're saying let it begin with me you're not saying do it out there Lord first know when you pray the Lord's prayer your sons start with me Lord with sons of church start with new city fellowship thy kingdom come here a new city fellowship thy will be done through new city fellowship and all of our lives because we know we can't do it because we know we're susceptible to our Dollar Tree 2 that this message goes forth from the power of God's spirit people see Jesus for who he truly is the Son of God the only Savior and King and in surrender their lives to follow him Jeremy Tree gives us a helpful summary of the kingdom of God very catchy he says God's reign through God's people over God's place the kingdom of God the God's reign through God's people over God's place what is God's place everywhere he sends you was Abraham Kuiper for the for you covenant college spoke I think it was Piper who said there is no square inch in all of creation where Jesus does not say mine mine church then becomes and we go talk more about these things don't just lay in the mouth I'm in some foundations I'm trying anyway the church really becomes an infancy of the kingdom of God now we're a strange kind of intimacy we are we are weird we are weird embassy I used to live I told you before I used to live me and say we lived in DC you used to live near a few embassies because there was some of the world 16th Street we were just off 16th Northwest embassies are very interesting because they are they actually belong to the country that they represent so that that whole building it'll be a good that whole building now is the territory of Uganda you step into onto that going through the gate step into the building you in Uganda now subject to their laws and rules now the thing about human embassies created by people is they don't try to convert people to their country usually I mean that's called spying that's been I've never talked about that about that no but they but they they're not evangelistic you know as it were they're not trying to prop up eyes everybody come and join Uganda they're not trying to do that that's but our embassy like I said is weird because that's what we're trying to do our embassy the embassy of the kingdom of God which we call the church is actually it's heaven territory we operate in this kingdom we operate according to the laws of heaven the law the word of the Lord is our law the gospel is our hope and joy that we seek to propagate and we want to go outside of our embassies into the culture to try to encourage people to come into the kingdom so we're different kind of embassy so just so you know but we are and and so we are aggressive in that way not fighting no no no aggressive in trying to reach people to bring them in
how we aggressive well I'm just gonna start this I'm gonna stop how we are how does Jesus reveal this holy aggression the king's message comes through word indeed that's what is the heaven in verse 23 of this wonderful passage in Matthew he went throughout Galilee teaching in this synagogue proclaiming the gospel and healing word indeed word indeed his word ministry of course is revealed in this preaching and teaching in the synagogue that people claim the gospel that's who Jesus was he was preeminently a preacher he went from place to place proclaiming and then teaching he has a message from God that he must get out that message is paramount it is the good news of the kingdom is the good news that the kingdom has come that God is not forgotten about us is the good news that you can enter this kingdom by grace not by heredity not I'm not you have to be born in the right family you have to be born on the right side of the tracks you don't have to have the right to be the right ethnic group you have to be the right nation no the good news of the kingdom is that anybody is welcome if they will trust in the king he's got to get this message out there's a huge mistake today led by the enemy of our souls that so many churches are putting less emphasis on preaching and teaching of God's word now again I read broadly I've talked to people this is happening it's been happening for a long time people want more drama that was a huge drama move I think it's still here but the huge drama move at one point where we had to have acting we want to have lots of drama in the worship service I visited one church I don't forget that they were they were talking about this drama they were going to do for the in the worship service it was more important than the message of the word I was going to be preached I'm not exaggerating because it dealt with infertility the drama dealt with infertility and they were really concerned that the drama might trigger some people but they really thought they had to do it and I'm saying they're going but what about the preaching of the word when God speaks clearly it was word we want more singing okay singing so now so now we have to hire the best orchestra and the best and sure if you want it's been in tons and tons of money getting the best musicians and the best singers and the congregation sings a little but really the congregation is watching the folk of front thing because they're the experts they're the pros and the message of the word acts people how was the worship service what they tell you man we have some great singing is that it Jesus was preemantly a preacher and teacher of the word of God a message has to be delivered it's something that must be said you I'm going to stop you but you have been given the privilege of being ambassadors of this kingdom you're ambassadors you and I have been gifted with the wonderful opportunity to proclaim to preach and to teach the word of God to all who will listen to our family first and then to those who we come we have a message you are part of a kingdom that never ends you are ambassadors of that kingdom you have been brought into that kingdom through the cross of Jesus Christ and the message of His grace you've been forgiven of your sins you've been transformed we'll talk about that next week we've been transformed you've been changed so that you might be the people of God that you might be faithful ambassadors in doubt with his presence his very spirit in doubt you with the ability now to live for him and to go and do what Jesus did proclaim his kingdom I will tell you this it's better to make America great again it's better than Black Lives Matter you won't have to deconstruct anything there's nothing that is better than socialism it's better than communism it's better than capitalism it's better than all of it isn't this kingdom it's perfect this kingdom is made up of flawed people but don't worry the king is going to set it all right because he's coming again he's going to fix it you just give him time he's going to fix it but first of all he's going to fix you he's going to spend the rest of your life fixing you and me and with me he has a lot of work to do our king will not be voted out our king will not be indicted or impeached king is perfect have you met this Jesus is this who you are you're standing with this king and his message of his kingdom we're not done yet we'll come back to this verse but are you standing where are you standing whose kingdom are you promoting yours your brand your kingdom your self-help guru who's kingdom you're promoting somebody's kingdom which one
every day I will challenge you wake up in the morning say Lord thy kingdom come thy will be done in me how will be your name in me oh I didn't forget challenge remember that challenge I gave you social media for the month of February it's a challenge I got you don't have to do it but I'll challenge you if you can't do it why not manipulation I don't so for media for the month of February when your social media account put something about Jesus forget you forget what you're eating drinking doing forget your kingdom
and for your month of February remember this challenge you remember this I challenge you to only put something on salt your social media that reflects you scripture statement whatever you want but point to Jesus do it for a month let's try see what happens when you promote the kingdom that will never end see what happens when you promote the kingdom that is raining right now right now raining see what happens and when we do some testimonies afterwards to see see how it went for you amen father thank you thank you for sending Jesus with this message of this kingdom that he rains in rules and that we can fall into this kingdom we can be brought in and be part of your reign in rule and know you as father and know and we have a message now to tell the world well they don't have to deconstruct they don't have to give themselves to monstrous movements that are flawed and corrupted but they can give themselves to you and you're working your kingdom help us to demonstrate that father and then help us to tell others about this great kingdom and this great king in Jesus name amen